(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)Over the weekend, supporters of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made sick threats against Rep. Steve Scalise, saying “kick his cane” and other incendiary remarks. On Monday, Scalise went on live television and ruined the Socialist congresswoman who has refused to condemn her radical followers.
Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana was debating tax policy with Socialist Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday when two of her supporters tweeted, “snipe his ass,” and, “kick his cane.”
“Hi @AOC. Happy to continue this debate on the Floor of the People’s House, but it’s clearly not productive to engage here with some of your radical followers. #StayClassy,” Rep. Scalise tweeted in response.
Hi @AOC. Happy to continue this debate on the Floor of the People’s House, but it’s clearly not productive to engage here with some of your radical followers. #StayClassy pic.twitter.com/lZCO3oiLUZ
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) January 6, 2019
On “Hannity” on Monday night, Scalise condemned the violent threats made against him and called upon Ocasio-Cortez to stand against the incendiary remarks made by her radical followers.
“Clearly, she ought to own up and just say, ‘Look this isn’t something that I condone,'” said Scalise. “She doesn’t, like you said, own this herself directly, but she shouldn’t condone it either. And, you shouldn’t look the other way. We shouldn’t tolerate either side. Our friends or our enemies in a political debate to encourage or incite violence against another person,” he added.
“I was having a good debate and whether or not they should confiscate 70 percent of people’s taxes and a marginal tax rate that I think is ridiculous,” Scalise continued. “I thought it was an important debate to go back and forth on, and then you saw some of that stuff and I said, ‘Look, I’m not going to engage in that kind of violence,'” he furthered.
“To me, there are lines. There’s a First Amendment and I fully respect that, but the First Amendment doesn’t allow you to say ‘fire’ in a movie theater,” Scalise explained. “There are limits. And, when you incite violence against someone else, that’s not the way we act in this country,” he declared.
“And, so, if you want to debate the merits, then go ahead. That’s what’s great about this country,” Scalise added. “Frankly, if you’re losing the debate, that’s when you usually have to resort to name-calling, and that’s why so many on the left want to call names to Donald Trump as opposed to try to argue whether or not we should have a secure border.”
Rep. Scalise knows better than anyone else that violent rhetoric is likely to escalate. Last year, as members of Congress gathered in Alexandria, Virginia, to practice for a charity baseball game, gunman James T. Hodgkinson opened fire on the group, striking Scalise in the hip and wounding four others.
Considering this, Ocasio-Cortez ought to be abundantly vigilant when her followers make calls to “snipe his ass” and “kick his cane.” Ignoring such rhetoric is the same as condoning it, and no lawmaker ought to condone such behavior.
Scalise is absolutely right — if his socialist colleague and her radical supporters had anything of substance to add to the debate, they wouldn’t have to resort to making threats. But, this is a favorite page from the Democratic playbook.
When they’ve been bested in a debate, you can count on the fact that they will scream “racism” or other names in order to destroy the credibility of their opponent. This is what happened to Rep. Steve Scalise over the weekend, and it happens to President Donald Trump on a daily basis.
It’s time for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to condemn the threats made against Steve Scalise by her radical followers. And, it’s up to us to make sure she gets the message since the liberal mainstream media is much less likely to call her out on it. We know she’s young, but she’s a congresswoman now. It’s time she displays behavior becoming of the position.
